Britain says Vladimir Putin is behaving like a 'mid-20th century tyrant'

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has lashed out at Russian president Vladimir Putin, urging him to change track to save Russia's economy from further decline and accusing him of behaving like a "mid-20th century tyrant".

He told Sky News television that supplying arms from Britain to Ukraine would not be the right thing to do "at the moment", but insisted London's position would be kept under review.

"This man has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country's territory in the 21st century acting like some mid-20th century tyrant," Mr Hammond said of Mr Putin.

"Civilised nations do not behave like that in the 21st century. We live in a rules-based society. We want the Russian people to be part of that international community.

"We want Russia to enjoy the kind of economic growth and rising standards of living that people in the rest of Europe enjoy and we do not see any reason to tolerate this kind of outrageous and outdated behaviour from the Kremlin."

French, German and Ukrainian leaders are planning a summit with Putin for Wednesday in a frantic bid to halt the escalating bloodshed in east Ukraine.

The four leaders talked by phone on Sunday as part of urgent efforts to achieve a "comprehensive settlement" in the 10-month conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels, Berlin said.

Mr Hammond said Britain was not involved in the discussions as it was not practical to have a "committee of 10" talking to Moscow.

He said the international talks were "one of the last opportunities that Russia will have to avoid yet further significant damage to its economy which is bound to happen if the intransigence of Vladimir Putin forces the rest of the world to increase and tighten the sanctions from which Russia's economy is already reeling."

Mr Putin "will have to trim his behaviour to reflect the decline in the Russian economy."